Kirkby Lonsdale Cockpit Hill (The Gatehouse Record)

Also known as, or recorded in historical documents as;
The Cockpit; Cockpit Hill; Kirby Lonsdale

In the civil parish of Kirkby Lonsdale.
In the historic county of Westmorland.
Modern Authority of Cumbria.
1974 county of Cumbria.
Medieval County of Westmorland.

OS Map Grid Reference: SD61087898
Latitude 54.20499° Longitude -2.59815°

Kirkby Lonsdale Cockpit Hill has been described as a certain Timber Castle.

There are cropmark/slight earthwork remains.

This site is a scheduled monument protected by law.

Description

Probable earthwork remains of a Medieval motte; reused as a post-Medieval cockpit. The mound is 130ft in diameter and in poor condition. (PastScape)

Cockpit Hill, 150 yards N. of the church, stands on a bluff on the W. bank of the Lune. It would appear to have been a small motte and now consists of a mound, about 130 ft. in diameter and rising at most some 19 ft. above the bottom of the slight ditch which surrounds it except on the E. The mound has been damaged by the formation of a path on the E. side and by some excavation on the top, perhaps to adapt it for use as a cock-pit.
Condition—Bad. (RCHME 1936)

Cockpit Hill Motte is a scheduled monument situated on a bluff above the steep bank of the River Lune, north of the church. There is no trace of a bailey associated with the motte. Curwen (1913) considered that the motte had been formed by cutting deep trenches across the high end of a ridge and the earth being piled into the centre to raise the level of the motte. The exact nature of the use of the Motte is uncertain. (Extensive Urban Survey)

Before the Conquest Thorfinnr held Kirkby Lonsdale as one of his twelve manors in Austwick. By 1100 Ivo Talebois held it as Baron of Kendal and gave the church with its land, amounting to perhaps three-quarters of the township, to the monks of St. Mary's Abbey, York. (Garnett 2013)

Sources of information, references and further reading

National Heritage List for England Scheduled Monument Number 1007153, Legacy Scheduled Monument Number cu353
Historic England (PastScape) Defra or Monument number(s) 43975.
County Historic Environment Record (or Sites and Monuments Record) number(s) 2632.

Websites (Gatehouse is not responsible for the content of external websites.)
- Matthew Emmott's Castle Blog and Matthew Emmott's Castle Blog
  Charles Taylor's ecastles
  Old Cumbria Gazetteer
Books
- Grimsditch, Brian, Nevell, Michael and Nevell, Richard, 2012, Buckton Castle and the Castles of the North West England (University of Salford Archaeological Monograph 2) p. 109
  Perriam, Denis and Robinson, John, 1998, The Medieval Fortified Buildings of Cumbria (Kendal: CWAAS Extra Series 29) p. 336
  Salter, Mike, 1998, The Castles and Tower Houses of Cumbria (Malvern: Folly Publications) p. 98 (slight)
  Pettifer, A., 1995, English Castles, A guide by counties (Woodbridge: Boydell Press) p. 274 (slight)
  Jackson, M.J.,1990, Castles of Cumbria (Carlisle: Carel Press) p. 66
  King, D.J.C., 1983, Castellarium Anglicanum (London: Kraus) Vol. 2 p. 492
  RCHME, 1936, An inventory of the historical monuments in Westmorland (HMSO) p. 136 no. 2 online transcription
  Curwen, J.F., 1913, Castles and Fortified Towers of Cumberland, Westmorland and Lancashire North of the Sands (Kendal: CWAAS Extra Series 13) p. 35
  Harvey, Alfred, 1911, Castles and Walled Towns of England (London: Methuen and Co)
  Whellan, W., 1860, The History and Topography of the Counties of Cumberland and Westmorland (Pontefract) p. 887 online copy
Periodical Articles
- Higham, Mary, 1991, 'The Mottes of North Lancashire, Lonsdale and South Cumbria' Transactions of the Cumberland and Westmorland Antiquarian and Archaeological Society Vol. 91 p. 79-90 (reprinted in Crosby, A.G. (ed), 2007, Of names and places: selected writings of Mary Higham (Nottingham: English Place-Name Society and the Society for Name Studies) p. 81-91) online copy
  1905, 'Proceedings' Transactions of the Cumberland and Westmorland Antiquarian and Archaeological Society Vol. 5 p. 278 (slight) online copy
Guidebooks
- White, A.J., 1998, Norman Castles of Lunedale A History Trail (Lancaster City Museums) (Leaflet)
Other sources: Theses; 'grey' literature; in-house reports; unpublished works; etc.
- Garnett, Emmeline, 2013, Victoria County History of Cumbria Project: Work in Progress Interim Draft Kirkby Lonsdale online copy
  English Heritage, 2006, Extensive Urban Survey - Cumbria (Cumbria County Council) Download copy
  Constable, Christopher, 2003, Aspects of the archaeology of the castle in the north of England C 1066-1216 (Doctoral thesis, Durham University) Available at Durham E-Theses Online
  Clare, T., 1982, A Report on Medieval Fortified Sites in Cumbria (Cumbria CC)

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The bibliography owes much to various bibliographies produced by John Kenyon for the Council for British Archaeology, the Castle Studies Group and others.

Suggestions for finding online and/or hard copies of bibliographical sources can be seen at this link.
Minor archaeological investigations, such as watching brief reports, and some other 'grey' literature is most likely to be held by H.E.R.s but is often poorly referenced and is unlikely to be recorded here, or elsewhere, but some suggestions can be found here.

The possible site or monument is represented on maps as a point location. This is a guide only. It should be noted that OS grid references defines an area, not a point location. In practice this means the actual center of the site or monument may often, but not always, be to the North East of the point shown. Locations derived from OS grid references and from latitude longitiude may differ by a small distance.
Further information on mapping and location can be seen at this link.

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